


I lean and loafe at my ease...

by salable_mystic



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: Cornwall, Gen, Tintagel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-24
Updated: 2010-10-24
Packaged: 2017-10-12 20:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/pseuds/salable_mystic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Arthur finally found Merlin again, he could not quite believe the circumstances of it all. A spoiler-free, modern-day, not-entirely-serious triple-drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I lean and loafe at my ease...

When Arthur finally found Merlin again, after having risen from centuries-long sleep in Avalon and all the attendant unpleasantness - realizing centuries had passed, getting used the the English that was spoken these days (to say nothing about take-away food, the Internet, LOLCATS and democracy [he had no idea which one of the latter initially bewildered him more, but he finally admitted that he could easily grow to apprechiate them both equally]), he couldn't quite believe the circumstances under which he met him again. (Holding a tacky plastic snow-globe rendition of a pink Camelot in an equally tacky tourist shop in Cornwall.)

"You are the one man who has both the power and the opportunity to influence history and the sheer fate of the world itself, and this is what you end up doing? _This!?_ " he asked, completely exasperated.

Merlin shrugged. "Well, it's relaxing. Easy. Straightforward. I got tired of the endless political squabbles a decade or two ago. Here no one ever complains about false advertisment or moronic world-leaders."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Well, your days in sales are over. We need to go save the world, you and I. No more time to loaf around. Come on. Adventures await!"

Merlin sighed, already feeling tired - but also strangely excited to be heading back into the fray. His time in Tintagel had been nice, a respite from it all, but now that Arthur was back he was looking forward to the sheer madness that he just knew would be headed their way.

Still, being nothing but an unpreposessing and forgetful elderly shopowner had been ... nice. He'd better find someone to take over running the store. He doubted he'd have time for it in the future. He sighed again, and gently locked the door of [_Merlins Gifts_](http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/img1973.htm) behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> A triple drabble inspired by a recent visit to Cornwall and Tintagel. The whole town of Tintagel is filled with pubs and shops named after one aspect of the Arthurian legend or another, it seems, and my brain immediately went: "Wouldn't it be funny to write a modern-day AU where Arthur and Merlin are businessmen and actually run all these shops?" This ... is not quite that fic.
> 
> The title is stolen from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself."


End file.
